10 Miracles among 1,000 Blessings

The Christmas season is a wonderful time to reflect on the greatest miracle of all… that God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son and that he came to us in the form of a baby, born to us of a virgin’s womb.  The entire birth narrative is full of miracles and wonder.  The story always causes us to pause and recount the many miraculous things God has done for our family.   Here now are 10 of the miracles that have occurred among the one-thousand ways God has blessed us.  As always, we invite you to share your stories of blessing as well!  Of course our children’s birth narratives are not on the level of the nativity, however, they do involve God’s miraculous work!

M1:  Ashlin Grace’s pregnancy was one of our first miracles.  At the time she came along, pregnancy was not covered by our medical insurance plan.  This was a time when you could get cheaper insurance if you chose not to receive maternity benefits.  Tami was on birth control pills and we believed we would not get pregnant.  We of course did not know how fertile we would be and ended up getting pregnant while she was on the pill!  We were going to have to pay expenses “out of pocket” for everything the insurance would not cover, but in the middle of it all we received a call from our “home church” inviting us to come home to Indiana to pioneer a Jr. High student ministry.  We really felt that God was calling us to go!  A side benefit of our choice to leave was that the State of Indiana had just passed a law stating that pregnancy could not be considered a preexisting condition for those seeking new medical insurance.  Ultimately, much of the pregnancy and delivery costs were covered by our new insurance plan.  Ashlin’s delivery was a rough one due to her having a shoulder distortion.  The doctor and nurses had to use a number of methods to get her to deliver.  Her face and body were bruised but thankfully that was all (many babies suffer injuries from this type of delivery such as a broken clavicle).

M2:  In a previous post we mentioned how Jaylin (our second child) was a miracle baby, but the short story is that Tami almost lost her life from an ectopic pregnancy before Jaylin was conceived.  Tami had less than a 50% chance of ever conceiving again due to the loss of her left reproductive side.  She was also on a three month hormonal therapy in an effort to reset her body’s chemical balance.  Despite the odds and obstacles God miraculously gave us Jaylin Noel.

M3:  There was also a miracle related to Evalin Rose and Madelin Faith.  Tami learned that she was pregnant with Madelin when Evalin was only four months old.  The pregnancy caused Tami’s milk supply to quickly diminish.  About this same time, a baby formula representative moved into the house behind us.  She offered to give us all we the formula we needed free of charge!

M4:  Trezdin James was also a miracle!  He would be our first son after having all girls.  Shortly into the pregnancy Tami began to have terrible pains and bleeding.  We were fearful of a second ectopic pregnancy but instead found that her placenta had torn away 80%.  This meant that we could lose him at any moment and there was really nothing we could do to stop it.  We asked many friends to pray for him and things gradually got better!  Tami was able to carry him full-term and he was born with perfect health.

M5:  Irelin Ann was conceived at a very turbulent time in our lives.  We were in the middle of difficult circumstances that has us questioning God’s plans for us.  We were under a lot of stress and God gave Tami the kind of peace that passes all understanding that the Bible speaks of.  Though she was pregnant, she was able to emotionally carry the entire family (including Todd) through one of the worst times of our lives.  God also placed a number of wonderful families in our lives to help us financially and take care of some of our physical needs.

M6:  Brealin Joy was another miracle.  She was born the day our town (and many other surrounding towns) experienced major flooding.  It took us three tries and about six hours to get to the hospital that was only 30 minutes away on a good day.  At times the water was flowing over the hood of our big 8 passenger van!

M7:  Prestin Todd was also a miracle!  Tami had a great pregnancy, but five weeks before his due date she developed pain in her sides.  The doctor determined that she had preeclampsia and called for his delivery right away.  Though he arrived five weeks early, he was perfectly fine and we even brought him home less than 48 hours after his delivery.

M8:  Keegin Paul was our Christmas baby!  Of course, Christmas is always a crazy-busy time for a pastor (even when there isn’t a newborn to take care of).  The miracle that year was that God gave us strength to care for a new born and still serve the church.  God even granted us enough strength to take over another pastor’s responsibilities because they also went into the hospital to have a baby!

M9:  The birth date of our youngest son, Cohin Brian was a miracle.  He was born on 8-19-2013.  August is a very busy time of the year with so many kids going back to school.  There are always a lot of supplies to get and orientations to be a part of.  On this year we not only had a new child headed for kindergarten but we also had a freshmen headed into high school.  These are big changes to deal with!  Along with all of the back to school preparation that year, we were also planning for Ashlin’s 15th birthday which was on August 24th.  Cohin came at a perfect time for Tami to be fully present for everything and everyone.

M10.  As you read this post there is another miracle in the making!  Tami is due with baby number 11 in the early part of February.  We are expecting a girl after having 3 boys in a row.  That’s a miracle in itself!

These are just a few of the miracle moments God has blessed us with.  There are many others we hope to share about in the future, but we are interested to hear from you!  What are some of your miracle stories?

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.
– C. S. Lewis

He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.
~ Job 5:9 ~